Anderson Carpentry and Concrete

At our first meeting I asked when we would pick out our doors, etc. and he said we would discuss it later. Since he was a 'friend of a friend' I put more trust in him than I should have. It was a constant struggle to get him to talk to us about construction details, such as window and door measurements, placement, and design. Mr. Anderson broke promise after promise! He poured our garage floor and we paid him about one half of the total estimated cost of the project. We were not told that the money was to pay for labor and cement, and that we would have to pay the lumberyard for materials directly. That meant we had little to show for the money invested at that point. Promised in Sept. to have garage roughed in before winter (showed up in February). Had to replace floor plan sketch, as it was not brought with workers (at least twice). Did not advise us that he used sub-contractors. One sub-contractor he wanted to use had done inferior work for us in the past. When we refused to deal with him, that brought on ANOTHER DELAY. Eric lost the siding materials list from that contractor, which meant ANOTHER DELAY. Was a no show when he was supposed to meet with sub-contractor about siding. Did not even call or return my calls. Which meant ANOTHER DELAY. No support beam was installed where house and garage joined. Building was not anchored or attached to the cement floor. Siding and overhead garage door seals were not installed. Breezeway was not sealed up. Poor attachment to existing home. To make up for delays he made a verbal promise to do additional work for free (no labor charge, we would pay for materials). Items to be done: front step and sidewalk, install garage door openers. He did not honor, nor seem to remember that agreement. Deck was not constructed. I repeatedly BEGGED him for the estimated cost of materials needed to finish the work. We did NOT get the siding discount he said he could get for us from some dealer he knew of. Agreed to pay us off (upon receipt of a letter of absolution from us) and then did not have anyone check his mail, resulting in the need to send an additional certified letter at my expense. Also, during that wait, he did not return my calls, did not advise me that he was out of town. Which meant ANOTHER DELAY. I will say that his employees were nice men and when I was able to observe them, they were working hard. After about TWO YEARS of problems, we were so glad to be 'done' dealing with him that we did not ask him to fix what we found to be flawed. What a major stress this was for our marriage! The above evaluation is in my opinion a good summary of what we went through. Unfortunately, we found out the hard way that a paper trail is essential for the protection of both parties in a contract for services.